One year on, the nation pauses to remember

People whose lives were touched by the Paddington rail crash were all remembering the disaster in their own way this morning. And many of them were voicing anger that a year on nothing has been done to tackle the safety fears it raised.

People whose lives were touched by the Paddington rail crash were all remembering the disaster in their own way this morning. And many of them were voicing anger that a year on nothing has been done to tackle the safety fears it raised.

Survivors of the crash, which took place between a Thames Trains commuter service headed for Bedwyn, in Wiltshire, and a London-bound Great Western Intercity service which left Cheltenham Spa that morning at 6.03am.

At the side of the tracks in Ladbroke Grove people gathered to lay bouquets and remember their friends and loved ones while others gathered at Paddington station in west London for a minute's silence held at 8.11am, the time of the crash.

31 people were killed and more than 400 people were injured in the crash, the worst seen in Britain since the December 1988 Clapham rail disaster.

While a silence was being observed at Paddington, the Bishop of Kensington, the Rt Rev Michael Colclough, was offering support and prayers for those attending a private ceremony close to the crash site.

Great Western cancelled today's 6.03am Cheltenham-London service, the same time as the one that was in the crash, as a mark of respect, and the same was done with the Thames Trains service.

Flowers were being laid at Reading station, in Berkshire, and at other stations on the Cheltenham to London route. A further minute's silence was observed, with prayers being said at the crash site at noon.

Mr Colclough was preaching at a 4pm memorial service at Westminster Central Hall, the venue for the public inquiry into the crash. He asked the injured and bereaved to remember those who died "with love and thankfulness ... not to bring back the past, but to set themselves to the future."

He was also praying for a safer world "where lessons will be learned and the right decisions made".

The victims of the crash, who are critical of the pace of safety improvements, were led by the badly-injured Pam Warren, 33, founder of the Paddington Survivors Group.

The group is particularly incensed that the Government, backed by an official report, is choosing a less-sophisticated and vastly cheaper form of train protection, the Train Protection Warning System, for nationwide introduction.

"One year on, my main thought is how horrible it is that nothing much has changed in rail safety," said Mrs Warren, from Reading, who has had to wear a plastic face mask for months because of her severe burns.

Survivors say the costly Automatic Train Protection system, due to be introduced gradually, should be installed at once, as was recommended after the 1988 Clapham rail disaster.

A public inquiry into train protection systems is continuing in London. Part two of the Paddington public inquiry, headed by Lord Cullen, starts later this month and is due to be concluded by the end of the year.